Quote:Original post by fastlane69
Since "hand crafted" is a concept that can presumably still hold value in the future, traders would work by barter and yes, it's inefficient, but remember, we have unlimited resources, thus it can AFFORD to be inefficient. People will always still want Joes' Homestyle Gumbo or a True Bat'lef made by a master.
Yes, that's true, the hand made touch may hold some 'value' - but how much?
Assuming that the crafter has unlimited supply, there is nothing you can give him that he can't already have - except perhaps another hand crafted item, or perhaps performing a service for him. You also have to ask what his motivations for creating the item are: since he has unlimited supply, there's no real reason for him to have bothered making it, however he chose to do so for amusement. Since there is no money, he probably didn't plan on selling it, so perhaps the 'service' answer is the best: If you spend your time doing something you're good at for him, he will spend his time doing some thing he is good at (making Bat'lefs) for you...
Perhaps time is a currency? One of the few valuable things a person has left to give in a moneyless society is his time.
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No more or less than counterfeit money does us. Holding counterfeit currency patterns in your replicator buffer could be a serious offense.
Well, contemporary counterfeiting is a difficult process, and only good enough to pass casual inspection. However, scanning a coin into your replicator and then replicating it perfectly ad infinitum is likely to cause a lot more problems. It would be like giving everyone their own perfect money making machine.
There could be restrictions on replicating currency, but how would they be enforced? Particularly since what constitutes currency could be very different from culture to culture. And how would those restrictions be flexible enough to allow any trade at all?
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This is a great in-game limitation and one worth examining...perhaps this was true in Roddenberry's world too and all we got was the "Star Fleet" propaganda.
ISTR the gold-pressed latinum was unreplicable, which was why it was able to retain value in ferengi society despite the existance of replicators. What was never explained was why they'd bother with it to buy other things that were for the most part, easily replicable...